Monday, 30 September 2013

According to the Australian Electoral Commission the National Party of Australia only has 9 Members of the House of Representatives in its own right and, if the Australian Parliament website is to be believed there are another three Nationals who presumably come under the banner of the Liberal-National Party of Queensland.

However, one of the new Nationals in the Lower House is of such importance that he has been left off the official members list on the Australian Parliament website twelve days after the Abbott Government officially took over the reins of government.

As of 30 September 2013 there is still no parliamentary evidence that the Nationals Member for Page, Kevin Hogan, exists outside the pages of mainstream media.

Here are the National Party MPs recognised on the Australian Parliament website.

At present
Directory Assistance also has no listing for Kevin Hogan MP, but if one happens across old campaign literature then there is one phone number listed which is still operational - (02) 6622.7253.

the faceless men are running the Labor Party [Then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott quoted in The Australian 23 February 2012]

We will get productivity up because we are not run by faceless men—the same faceless men who dictate the policy of this government when it comes to workplace relations.[Then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in House of Representatives Hansard, 27 February 2012]

From 2006 onwards Tony Abbott made repeated reference, both in and outside of the Australian Parliament, to faceless men in the Labor Party and held his own party up as being free from the taint of such men.

Now the Liberal Party itself is publicly coming clean about the antics of its own ‘faceless men’ in New South Wales and revealing examples of the party’s undemocratic pre-selection processes.

Prime Minister Abbott may be about to lose control of the post-election political message again, as media attention was triggered by his own apparent pursuit of payback for what he sees as NSW factional bosses costing him the 2010 federal election as well a losing him an expected ‘landslide’ victory in 2013.

Today, two party activists emailed 10,000 members urging them to support broadening a ban on party officials being lobbyists. The ban was announced by the Prime Minister last week.

And senior Liberals have called for an end to branch stacking by NSW factional bosses. They blame the practice for hampering the party's efforts to pick up seats in Western Sydney in the election....

ROSS CAMERON [formerLiberal MP for Parramatta]: Same thing happened in Parramatta. The Liberal Party's constitution rewarded branch stacking. Martin Zaiter took the opportunity that it presented. We stacked in 100 Maronite Lebanese into two branches. It meant the preselection was a stitch up and it was a weak - it produced a weak outcome....

ROSS CAMERON: The extraordinary thing is that you can become a branch member in Parramatta, as I was, and not have the opportunity to vote for your candidate. You know, you only get to vote for the delegate who's gonna vote for the candidate, and it's that concentration of the franchise that empowers the factional boss....

But today in an email to nearly 10,000 state members, party activists John Ruddick and Walter Villatora have called for the changes to go further. "... our party is now at a crossroad," they've written. The, "NSW Liberal Party is unique ... our lobbyists (have) until now not only been influencing lawmakers ... they've been installing many lawmakers."....

ROSS CAMERON: Labor are going to steal a march on us here. And if we want to be competitive, we have to be putting forward the cream of each generation as the candidates representing ordinary Australians through the Liberal Party. And the only way we will attract them to our cause is to broaden the franchise and give them a feeling they've got a real chance....

ROSS CAMERON: You've got to take the power which is currently concentrated in the hands of a few factional leaders and you've got to push it out to the rank-and-file members.

This is Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's last letter before leaving office on 26 June 2013:

This is an excerpt from the 1997 evidence given by AustralianPrime Minister-elect Tony Abbott, when he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs,in support of an alleged paedophile priest later forcefully laicized by the Vatican:

Q. You kept up your friendship with the defendant?

A. From time to time, yes.Q. And you saw him?A. From time to time, perhaps once or twice every twelve months. Q. And you've kept up that friendship until this day?A. That's correct....Q. First of all, how would you describe him as a man? A. An extremely upright and virtuous man. I guess one of things that I liked very much about John when I first him, was his maturity, intellectual, social, emotional he was, to that extent I guess, a beacon of humanity at the SeminaryQ. How did he appear to get on with his peers at the at Manly?A. Obviously we have different relations with different people. John got on extremely well with some, less well with others. I guess one of the things that marked John out from his peers at the seminary was he was a man with high expectations of himself and others and I can recall on occasions being more than a little annoyed with him, because, you know, he would want to bring me up to the mark, bring me back to the path of virtue from time to time and this didn't always go over too well with me. And I guess it could annoy others as well.Q. But as far as his own conduct was concerned, did you ever become aware of anything which would in any way question his beliefs and his dedication as a priest?A. Never.Q. And you've come all the way from Sydney today to give this evidence?A. I have indeed.Q. You do have other duties to perform? A. I have an electorate to represent and a ministry to assist.

Sunday, 29 September 2013

Apparently Australian Attorney-General George Brandis thought it appropriate when on the Opposition benches to expect taxpayers to foot some of his costs when attending a wedding at Bells Hotel, Killcare NSW, on 4 December 2011 and staying at The Mantra in Ettalong.

Senator Brandis claimed $1700, including more than $1000 on return flights, $143 on a hire car and the overnight ''official business'' allowance designed to cover accommodation and incidentals.

He told Fairfax Media on Saturday that he regarded the wedding as a chance to ''foster collaboration'' over Mr Smith's work covering the then prime minister and the Craig Thomson scandal and it was therefore ''primarily a professional rather than a social engagement''.

''These were both matters of significant national interest on which I spoke frequently in Parliament and the media,'' he wrote in a statement.

The federal Department of Finance's guidelines state MPs are allowed to claim travel and accommodation expenses for official business including ''meetings of a government advisory committee or taskforce'' or ''functions representing a minister or presiding officer''. Meeting with journalists is not a purpose sanctioned by the guidelines.....

Mr Joyce claimed a flight to Moree the next day and about $500 worth of charges for the use of a Commonwealth car on the day of the wedding. He said he could not recall whether he had other meetings that day but defended the use of public resources to attend the wedding.....

Interestingly this article reveals George Brandis was in close collaboration with the suspended Sydney radio shock jock in the very public hounding of then Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Although at the time he was rather reticent about the general public being aware of this particular ‘friendship’:

Once at the wedding Mr. Brandis apparently gave an impassioned speech in defence of Michael Smith’s pursuit of the Prime Minister and, it would appear that the bridal couple also paid some of his transportation costs as well:

For those interested in the financial details for dates associated with this wedding:

Joe Hockey as Opposition Shadow Treasurer in The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 May 2012:''Labor has now sought increases in the debt limit of the Commonwealth from $75 billion to $200 billion, to $250 billion and now $300 billion. On each occasion they promise not to exceed the limit. Well, enough is enough - we are going to keep them to their promises''

In the first 128 days of the Abbott Government total borrowings from
these sources will exceed $27.7 billion or over $216.4 million a day.

It would appear that the current Federal Coalition Government is borrowing at the same a higher rate as than the former Federal Labor Government. However, It has committed to raising the debt ceiling to $500 billion before 12 December 2013.

The message from the Coalition has been loud, shrill and as sophisticated as a slap in the face with a cold fish. Since Tony Abbott'sbudget reply speechin May, he, Joe Hockey and Andrew Robb have been emphatically claiming Australia is in a state of "budget emergency." The perpetrators? Those gol-darned Reds in the Labor party.

Despite the country's AAA credit rating and that whole "one of the strongest economies in the world" thing, the former opposition have been pounding the panic button and attempting to convince as many people as possible that Australia is going to hell in a fiscally irresponsible hand basket.

But since the election we have heard nothing of the disastrous "budget emergency." Abbott and co have kept mum on the subject. How could such a horrible spectre disappear so quickly? Where did it sneak off to?

On the weekend an army of intrepid Twitter truth-seekers decided to go looking......

On 18 September 2013 the Abbott Government was sworn in and Australia became subject to an official information blackout concerning the number of unscheduled boat arrivals involving people thought or known to be seeking asylum in this country.

25 September - SIEV boat containing 19 people arrives at Darwin Harbour sometime during the night of the 24th or early hours of the morning of the 25th.

26 September - SIEV boat arrives Christmas Island Harbour with an estimated 80 passengers including children. HMAS Ballarat takes part in the rescue of another 44 asylum seekers in Indonesian waters with these people transferred to an Indonesian rescue vessel for return to Indah Kiat port in Java.

27 September – boat heading towards Australia and estimated to contain up to 125 asylum seekers sinks off southern coast of Java. At least 20 bodies, mostly children under 15 years, washed ashore so far. Australian Customs Vessel ACV Triton rescues 31 asylum seekers from another boat and is thought to be still at sea off Timor.

Estimated total number of boat passengers and crew: 339

UPDATE30 September - 2 RAN patrol boats enter Christmas Island harbour with an estimated 80 asylum seekers (men, women and children) on board, thought to have been picked up from a boat which was either sinking or was otherwise considered unseaworthy.Estimated total number of boat passengers and crew as of 30.09.13: 419UPDATE10 October 2013 SIEV boat with unknown number of asylum seekers on board found off Cocos (Keeling) Island.

17 October 2013 at approximately 8am HMAS Warramunga put into Christmas Island and disembarked an unknown number of asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa. Including one8 year-old boy, eight to ten women and two individuals requiring wheelchairs.

* Figures derived from eyewitness accounts tweeted from Christmas Island, international and national media reports.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
[Adopted and proclaimed by United Nations General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948]

NSW North Coast

Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Moggy Musings

Hi! My name is Boy. I'm a male bi-coloured tabby cat. Ever since I discovered that Malcolm Turnbull's dogs were allowed to blog, I have been pestering Clarencegirl to allow me a small space on North Coast Voices.

A false flag musing: I have noticed one particular voice on Facebook which is Pollyanna-positive on the subject of the Port of Yamba becoming a designated cruise ship destination. What this gentleman doesn’t disclose is that, as a principal of Middle Star Pty Ltd, he could be thought to have a potential pecuniary interest due to the fact that this corporation (which has had an office in Grafton since 2012) provides consultancy services and tourismbusiness development services.

A religion & local government musing: On 11 October 2017 Clarence Valley Council has the Church of Jesus Christ Development Fund Inc in Sutherland Local Court No. 6 for a small claims hearing. It would appear that there may be a little issue in rendering unto Caesar. On 19 September 2017 an ordained minister of a religion (which was named by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in relation to 40 instances of historical child sexual abuse on the NSW North Coast) read the Opening Prayer at Council’s ordinary monthly meeting. Earlier in the year an ordained minister (from a church network alleged to have supported an overseas orphanage closed because of child abuse claims in 2013) read the Opening Prayer and an ordained minister (belonging to yet another church network accused of ignoring child sexual abuse in the US and racism in South Africa) read the Opening Prayer at yet another ordinary monthly meeting. Nice one councillors - you are covering yourselves with glory!

An investigative musing: Newcastle Herald, 12 August 2017: The state’s corruption watchdog has been asked to investigate the finances of the Awabakal Aboriginal Local Land Council, less than 12 months after the troubled organisation was placed into administration by the state government. The Newcastle Herald understands accounting firm PKF Lawler made the decision to refer the land council to the Independent Commission Against Corruption after discovering a number of irregularities during an audit of its financial statements.The results of the audit were recently presented to a meeting of Awabakal members. Administrator Terry Lawler did not respond when contacted by the Herald and a PKF Lawler spokesperson said it was unable to comment on the matter. Given the intricate web of company relationships that existed with at least one former board member it is not outside the realms of possibility that, if ICAC accepts this referral, then United Land Councils Limited (registered New Zealand) and United First Peoples Syndications Pty Ltd(registered Australia) might be interviewed. North Coast Voices readers will remember that on 15 August 2015 representatives of these two companied gave evidence before NSW Legislative Council General Purpose Standing Committee No. 6 INQUIRY INTO CROWN LAND. This evidence included advocating for a Yamba mega port.

A Nationals musing: Word around the traps is that NSW Nats MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis has been talking up the notion of cruise ships visiting the Clarence River estuary. Fair dinkum! That man can be guaranteed to run with any bad idea put to him. I'm sure one or more cruise ships moored in the main navigation channel on a regular basis for one, two or three days is something other regular river users will really welcome. *pause for appreciation of irony* The draft of the smallest of the smaller cruise vessels is 3 metres and it would only stay safely afloat in that channel. Even the Yamba-Iluka ferry has been known to get momentarily stuck in silt/sand from time to time in Yamba Bay and even a very small cruise ship wouldn't be able to safely enter and exit Iluka Bay. You can bet your bottom dollar operators of cruise lines would soon be calling for dredging at the approach to the river mouth - and you know how well that goes down with the local residents.

A local councils musing: Which Northern Rivers council is on a low-key NSW Office of Local Government watch list courtesy of feet dragging by a past general manager?

A serial pest musing: I'm sure the Clarence Valley was thrilled to find that a well-known fantasist is active once again in the wee small hours of the morning treading a well-worn path of accusations involving police, local business owners and others.

An investigative musing: Which NSW North Coast council is batting to have the longest running code of conduct complaint investigation on record?

A which bank? musing: Despite a net profit last year of $9,227 million the Commonwealth Bank still insists on paying below Centrelink deeming rates interest on money held in Pensioner Security Accounts. One local wag says he’s waiting for the first bill from the bank charging him for the privilege of keeping his pension dollars at that bank.

A Daily Examiner musing: Just when you thought this newspaper could sink no lower under News Corp management, it continues to give column space to Andrew Bolt.

A thought to ponder musing: In case of bushfire or flood - do you have an emergency evacuation plan for the family pet?

An adoption musing: Every week on the NSW North Coast a number of cats and dogs find themselves without a home. If you want to do your bit and give one bundle of joy a new family, contact Happy Paws on 0419 404 766 or your local council pound.